“I’ll see you later. Want me to bring you any food? Hospital food can be iffy.”
“Honestly, yes. Anything from Subway would be amazing. Thinking about getting a BLT got me through my days shackled in the root cellar.”
“I will bring you two.”
“Thanks, girl.”
* * *
Me:Don’t do anything stupid.
I send the text to Jared and then pull my seatbelt over my lap. It clicks into place and I fire up the engine, backing up so I can turn around and head out to the hospital. The new window looks great and doesn’t look new at all. Which was the whole point of paying Roy as much as I did.
The air is much cooler today than yesterday, and I put the windows down and enjoy the breeze blowing through. I try to enjoy the music blasting from my favorite 90s station and not think about anything, but of course my mind drifts to the ghost and to what Jac said about needing a coven.
Though my job is risky in itself, I’m not really a risk taker by nature. I’m smarter than that, and know when to respect my personal limits. I’ve definitely pushed said limits since finding out I’m a witch, though that was entirely out of necessity. Being a law-abiding detective and a badass, demon-fighting witch don’t really mesh, and I’ve gone to extremes to keep my two worlds from colliding.
And doing so is exhausting.
But what other choice do I have? I’m a cop. That’s my job, and as I explained to the guys recently, I need a job. No one is going to pay me for catching ghosts and staking vampires.
Halfway to the hospital, my phone vibrates from a text. I glance down at it and see Jared’s name, but I don’t dare open the text while driving. Turning up the radio, I sing along to Nine Inch Nails and try not to think of anything other than what I want to do with Tom and Gil tonight.
Once I get into Lancaster, I pull over and get out my phone to find a Subway closest to the hospital. I get Gemma two of the sandwiches she wanted as well as one for myself. Just a few minutes later, I’m parking and heading into the hospital.
Gemma is sitting up in bed watching TV and looks a million times better than she did yesterday. Her face lights up when she sees me.
“I bring sustenance,” I say, holding up the Subway bag.
“Oh my god, I freaking love you.” She rolls the bedside table over and pushes a book to the side. I set the bag down and reach into my purse, pulling out a little glass bottle filled with tea-colored liquid.
“What’s this?” She picks up the jar, turning it over and watching the chunks of herbs float around.
“A healing potion. It’ll knock you out, so you should eat your sandwich first.”
“For real?”
“Yeah, though I’m not sure how well it’ll work with sicknesses. It helped me recover the day after we got out of that warehouse.” I pull a chair up to the bed and take one of the sandwiches out. It’s been a long time since I ordered a sub, and it looks delicious.
“I have so many questions,” Gemma says, and then takes a bite.
“I’m sure you do. I’ll answer what I can.”
Nodding, Gemma holds up her hand to let me know she’s going to finish chewing before she talks. “You told me you didn’t believe in magic when I first met you.”
“That’s not a question,” I tease. “And I didn’t.”
“How can you not believe in magic?”
“I only found out about all this recently.”
She lets out a snort of laughter. “I bet that was a real shocker.”
“You’re telling me. I mean, I guess I’ve always been a witch, but I didn’t know I had powers.”
“And your…your boyfriends…they’re all alike?”
“Yes,” I say, knowing what she’s asking. “All four of them.”
